Because of this ICAM class I'm taking, I've been forced to start a new WoW character again at level 1. There is one big difference I've noticed this time around though: I actually know what I'm doing. Leveling has been much easier than it was the first time I played the game. Part of this is because Blizzard has made the first 10-20 levels easier to play, but the other half is thanks to the knowledge I've gained in leveling a character all the way to 61. I now understand important in-game concepts like aggro management, talent specialization, and how to work in team situations. As a result, I die substantially less than I did when I was just starting. Also, starting from scratch has taught me to appreciate the usefulness of later spells. I went 20 levels before I acquired my blink spell, and you have no idea how much I hated not being able to distance myself from enemies so quickly. I can definitely appreciate seeing how much my skill has improved over the course of 41 levels.
Of course, none of this is really surprising. One of leveling's purposes (aside from making you pay more money to play the game) is to teach you how to play the game. Once you understand the rules it's easy to start over again. That being said, despite the fact I'm 61, I still have 19 levels of learning left to do. However, I'm curious about what these observations say about the way the game encourages or discourages types of interaction. If a person is completely new to the game, is it better or worse if everyone around them knows what they're doing? Will they learn from their elders, or is there some important element they miss out on by not learning the system themselves?
I don't think this would matter so much if the ratio of new players to old players making alts wasn't so one-sided. Playing with a group of noobs would offer a rare chance at group exploration. Not only would they not know where to travel or what the best plan of attack is, but they could all learn this information together and have a stronger social connection with each other. Having a WoW veteran simply telling you where everything is or explaining the rules to you loses some of the magic of finding things out for yourself. Everyone makes a new character eventually, but it'd be nice if the players that were actually new had a chance to make their own WoW experiences instead of bumming someone else's.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Auction House Flowchart
I've never fully understood how to earn my virtual fortune from WoW's auction house. I typically just put the item I want to sell through the auctioneer addon, and it does all the guess work for me. However, a quick look through the WoW wiki provided me with some basic tips on how to buy and sell efficiently at the auction house. I took the key points of these articles and created a simply flowchart to illustrate proper AH use.
If you'd like more advanced tips and tricks on how to make lots of WoW gold I strongly suggest you check out these links from the WoW wiki: Auction House; Auction Guide; Working the Auction House; Guide to making money.
Or you could always just ask Rachel for help because she's already made over 300g in the auction house.
I hate you Rachel. :p
If you'd like more advanced tips and tricks on how to make lots of WoW gold I strongly suggest you check out these links from the WoW wiki: Auction House; Auction Guide; Working the Auction House; Guide to making money.
Or you could always just ask Rachel for help because she's already made over 300g in the auction house.
I hate you Rachel. :p
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
On Simulacra and Simulations
The following is a response to this reading. If you're not in ICAM 120 none of this will make sense unless you read that article.
In general, Baudrillard discusses the way in which simulation has taken the place of reality. The idea is that a simulation either reflects reality, or masks it. If the purpose of a simulation is to mask reality then the simulation, as well as the values and rules it expresses, becomes the reality. Suddenly the real world is ignored or in some extreme cases wiped out completely. Baudrillard uses Disneyland as an example of a simulated reality in which it's influence on American culture and society has become part of the American value system. Likewise, he claims that Watergate is only a scandal because of the way society tacks on beliefs and value systems.
Naturally, these ideas translate to virtual worlds. Second Life and World of Warcraft act on some level as a reality for users. The avatar a player makes, regardless of the game, is a simulacra of the player. It does not represent who the player is, but is an effigy of what the player wishes to be. And given the anonymity granted to the player, a person can truly live in the simulation as a unique entity.
One of the most important aspects of World of Warcraft's design is its scale. The size of the world requires players to spend hours traversing it in multiple ways. It may be tedious, but traveling in this way adds to the "reality" of the simulation.
In general, Baudrillard discusses the way in which simulation has taken the place of reality. The idea is that a simulation either reflects reality, or masks it. If the purpose of a simulation is to mask reality then the simulation, as well as the values and rules it expresses, becomes the reality. Suddenly the real world is ignored or in some extreme cases wiped out completely. Baudrillard uses Disneyland as an example of a simulated reality in which it's influence on American culture and society has become part of the American value system. Likewise, he claims that Watergate is only a scandal because of the way society tacks on beliefs and value systems.
Naturally, these ideas translate to virtual worlds. Second Life and World of Warcraft act on some level as a reality for users. The avatar a player makes, regardless of the game, is a simulacra of the player. It does not represent who the player is, but is an effigy of what the player wishes to be. And given the anonymity granted to the player, a person can truly live in the simulation as a unique entity.
One of the most important aspects of World of Warcraft's design is its scale. The size of the world requires players to spend hours traversing it in multiple ways. It may be tedious, but traveling in this way adds to the "reality" of the simulation.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
THIS BLOG HAS BEEN HIJACKED!
Hey everyone.
Just a quick heads up: This quarter I'll be taking a class on Virtual Environments, and part of the required work is that I make blog posts about readings as well as my time spent in virtual environments like World of Warcraft and Second Life. So expect an influx on blog posts about that subject over the next 10 weeks. Any blog posts related to that class will be marked with the tag ICAM 120.
That is all.
Just a quick heads up: This quarter I'll be taking a class on Virtual Environments, and part of the required work is that I make blog posts about readings as well as my time spent in virtual environments like World of Warcraft and Second Life. So expect an influx on blog posts about that subject over the next 10 weeks. Any blog posts related to that class will be marked with the tag ICAM 120.
That is all.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Obligatory New Year's Eve Post About Video Games.
Ten years ago, I was still a Nintendo fanboy. The only consoles I owned were an N64, a game boy color, and a Super Nintendo. I didn't care about the upcoming Playstation 2, I had no clue what was happening with PC gaming, and I only remembered the Dreamcast because it came out on my birthday in 1999. For me, the year 2000 will be known as the first year I spent hours playing Perfect Dark with my cousin. It was the year of amazing new games like Majora's Mask and Pokemon Gold and Silver. It was the year I proudly defended my console of choice to the death.
It's amazing to see how much I've changed since then.
As the decade progressed, I learned to love games from all different systems. The big turning point was when I decided to buy myself an xbox, the first non-Nintendo console I ever owned. I have Halo to thank for that.
But more importantly, I began to see video games on a few different levels. Ocarina of Time was one of the first games that made me realize the artistic and storytelling potential of a video game. But it was during this last decade where I really began to understand what that meant. The way Silent Hill 2 pulled me into it's world was something I had never experienced before. It was the first video game that I had to play multiple times just to get my head around the inner meaning of the story. Rez HD was a fantastic mixture of audio and visual design that provided total sensory immersion. And even though games like Flower and The Path were mostly artsy just to be artsy, I still found new and exciting elements in each one.
Of course I still had all the old standbys to keep me occupied as well. I had my Zelda, my Mario, my Warcraft. These were all games I could enjoy on my own time, away from other people. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't relish the Friday nights lost to massive Halo 2 LAN parties. It was the social aspect of these parties that I really enjoyed, and while I always knew that games were sociable, there was something different about a LAN party. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that we had 16 players instead of the standard two to four. Whatever it was, the advent of Halo 2 helped redefine how I played games with friends. I'm reminded of this every time I plan another Team Fortress 2 party.
I could continue to talk about how important the past 10 years have been for gaming and predict how games will change in the next decade. Maybe even make a personal top 10 games of the decade list. But everybody else is doing that. Instead I'll just end by wishing everyone a Happy New Year. Here's hoping the next decade of gaming is just as exciting as the last!
If you'd like to share you own stories, just write a comment.
It's amazing to see how much I've changed since then.
As the decade progressed, I learned to love games from all different systems. The big turning point was when I decided to buy myself an xbox, the first non-Nintendo console I ever owned. I have Halo to thank for that.
But more importantly, I began to see video games on a few different levels. Ocarina of Time was one of the first games that made me realize the artistic and storytelling potential of a video game. But it was during this last decade where I really began to understand what that meant. The way Silent Hill 2 pulled me into it's world was something I had never experienced before. It was the first video game that I had to play multiple times just to get my head around the inner meaning of the story. Rez HD was a fantastic mixture of audio and visual design that provided total sensory immersion. And even though games like Flower and The Path were mostly artsy just to be artsy, I still found new and exciting elements in each one.
Of course I still had all the old standbys to keep me occupied as well. I had my Zelda, my Mario, my Warcraft. These were all games I could enjoy on my own time, away from other people. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't relish the Friday nights lost to massive Halo 2 LAN parties. It was the social aspect of these parties that I really enjoyed, and while I always knew that games were sociable, there was something different about a LAN party. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that we had 16 players instead of the standard two to four. Whatever it was, the advent of Halo 2 helped redefine how I played games with friends. I'm reminded of this every time I plan another Team Fortress 2 party.
I could continue to talk about how important the past 10 years have been for gaming and predict how games will change in the next decade. Maybe even make a personal top 10 games of the decade list. But everybody else is doing that. Instead I'll just end by wishing everyone a Happy New Year. Here's hoping the next decade of gaming is just as exciting as the last!
If you'd like to share you own stories, just write a comment.
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